I see the Golden Pipit from Pongola seen during the summer of 2010/11 never made it onto our bird pages! Tmetothylacus tenellus generally prefers grassland with scattered trees. This bird was seen in the Pongola Nature Reserve, holding to a small Marula tree (the tallest tree in that area) and some similarly sized flat topped thorn trees. It was an uncanny experience to go to a given GPS co-ordinate and find the bird within minutes of stopping at the spot! The golden pipit occurs primarily in north-eastern Africa from Somalia to Tanzania. It is a very rare non-breeding vagrant to southern Africa, straggling southwards, with records in South Africa from the Kruger National Park and Gauteng. This sighting was a first for KZN.

Due to its fondness of perching at the apex of the highest trees in its territory, its habit of putting on an alluring, eye-catching show with its hovering flight style must make this one of the easiest birds to find in the bush. The female Golden pipit is a typical brown pipit but has a yellow underside to the wing.